Washington: Having received more than one fourth of the H-1B applications in the Congressional mandated general category in the first week, the USCIS has announced it will continue accepting the petitions for this most sought-after visa till the time it reaches the cap.

Since it started accepting H-1B petitions from April 2, for the fiscal 2013 beginning October this year, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said that it has also received 8,200 applications towards the 20,000 cap exemption for individuals with advanced degrees.

"Should USCIS receive the number of petitions needed to meet the cap, it will issue an update advising the public that the FY 2013 H-1B cap has been met as of a certain date, known as the 'final receipt date'. The date USCIS informs the public that the cap has been reached may differ from the actual final receipt date," the federal agency said in a statement.

If necessary, USCIS may randomly select the number of petitions received on the final receipt date that will be considered for final inclusion within the cap. The agency will reject petitions subject to the cap that are not selected, as well as those received after the final receipt date, it said.

Whether a petition is received by the final receipt date will be based on the date USCIS physically receives the properly filed petition, not the date that the petition is postmarked, the statement said.

Meanwhile, petitions filed by employers who are exempt from the cap, as well as petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap within the past six years, will not count toward the cap, the agency added. '